Stories of Lost Souls

In the spirit of The Twilight Zone, Stories of Lost Souls is a hard hitting presentation of six short stories of conquest, desperation and perseverance featuring remarkable performances by an all star cast.

Confronted with tragic and mysterious circumstances, six varying personalities from different walks of life must come to terms with the bizarre twists their lives have taken. From an abusive alcoholic husband (James Gandolfini) to a seductive temptress at a New Year’s Eve party (Keira Knightley) to debonair swindler (Paul Bettany), all of the characters share one common element – the desperation for redemption by all those who live in the realm of Lost Souls.
***********************************************************************

‘Stories of Lost Souls’ is a compilation of various short films made in completely different years with totally different crews and styles. They are tenuously linked by inter-titles that frequently have little to do with the film’s title or the other segments. It’s abundantly clear that they were never conceived as a package when they were originally made – it’s more of an afterthought, a way for the filmmakers to get their product out in the public eye in some form.

Consequently, not only are these pre-segment titles more often than not inappropriate for their companion films, but the segments themselves don’t really merge together well at all.

Frequently, the films, as short as they are, don’t gel well either: the stories would probably be alright in treatment form, but the way that they’ve been developed in pretty much each case is amateurish – so much so that I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that they are film school projects, actually. Further fuelling that impression is that the acting, even from well-known and respected actors (such as Hugh Jackman or Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) isn’t exactly up to snuff – no doubt due to poor direction.

All in all, it could be a lot worse – I’ve seen bigger films suck more. And harder. But it left me cold, whereas in concept it could have been one of the better films I’ve seen this year. Sadly, the film is far too disjointed and ill-conceived to generate all but modest interest; it mostly coasts on its stars’ names (Cate Blanchett, Illeana Douglas, James Gandolfini, Jeff Goldblum, Daryl Hannah, Josh Harnett, Keira Knightley, Joanna Lumley, Sarah Silverman, …etc) but offers little substance to its audience.